국제공동연구개발사업에서의 기술협력과 기술보호의 딜레마

The Dilemma between Technology Collaboration and Technology Protection: Can They Coexist in Government-Supported International Joint R&D Projects?

To accelerate globalization of science and technology through adoption and utilization of advanced technology, the Korean government had enacted 「The Framework Act on Science and Technology」, as well as other related laws, which provide legal basis for the Korean government's commitment and support for international joint R&D projects. However, the amended Act of 2010 newly introduced provisions that deal with the ownership and protection of the government-supported (also called "national") R&D results. As international joint R&D projects make up an important part of Korea's national R&Ds, such provisions can be cumbersome, prejudicial and unfair to the foreign participants, such as universities, research centers and companies, as well as researchers, participating in Korea's national R&D projects under the active support of the Korean government. For example, the amended Act lists situations where the national R&D results can be owned by the Korean government. The most problematic situation for international joint R&D is when the research entity is located abroad. Even under the other situations, the ownership of the R&D results can be easily belonged to the Korean government under its sole discretion. For the protection of national R&D results, on top of the long to-do list of mandatory security measures that must be carried out by the participating research entities, the foreign participants are subject to additional restrictions. Despite of the Korean government's efforts to promote and support international joint R&D projects, the newly added provisions will be a great hindrance to such effort. This paper will examine how the Korean laws deal with the ownership and protection of government-supported international R&D results and compare them to the U.S. and European laws dealing with similar matters.